Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 1/12//24

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. January’s camellias here in Savannah.

2. I know I have expressed gratitude about this before, but isn’t it just such an incredible luxury to have Hot and Cold Running Water?!

3. This little fellow I met yesterday.

We chatted for a while. And he posed for a pic.

4. Simple sidewalk beauty.

5. A little bit of Christmas simply refusing to go away.

May weekend beauty find you.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/29/23

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. Our little cabin on Lake Delano at F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain GA over Christmas weekend.

2. HR grilling bbq chicken thighs while I watch comfortably from the cabin porch.

3. Speaking of grilling, driving to Dowdell’s Knob near the state park to see where FDR had a stone grill overlooking the Georgia hills.

Cool statue of FDR, the only one showing his paralyzed legs without braces.

Here’s the … “grill.”

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT LOVED TO PICNIC HERE, AND HE HAD THIS GRILL BUILT. IT WAS FILLED IN TO PRESERVE IT.

F. D. R. Warm Springs Memorial Commission

Well, it ain’t a Big Green Egg.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

4. The Joy of Travel.

5. Surviving the hilly and creek-crossing 4.2 mile Cascade Falls Hike (a part of the 22 mile Pine Mountain Trail) on Christmas Eve.

May we all have Reason to Smile as we hike toward the end of 2023.

Posted in Christmas Countdown 2023

Countdown to Christmas: 12/24/23 — “Sing a Christmas Song”

This year my Countdown to Christmas is a nontraditional Advent Calendar centering (pun intended) on mindfulness.

On the front of each card is neat little picture, and on the back are the instructions for the short meditation.

Today, the 24th and last Day of Advent … SING A CHRISTMAS SONG.

Here are today’s instructions:

Activating your body, mind, breath and voice, there are few activities that involve you more comprehensively in the present than singing. Your task today is to sing a Christmas song.

Don’t worry, this need not be some grand solo performance to an audience – it could be singing carols as part of a group, an a cappella version in the safety of the shower, or simply singing along to a song on the radio – wherever you choose to sing, all that matters is that you give it your full attention and really go for it.

Feel the breath in your chest and the vocal vibrations in your throat; hear the sound of your voice; follow the patter of the melody, consider the meaning of the lyrics. Feel the various emotions involved, both in the tone and message of the song and in the personal feelings you get from the activity of singing. And most of all, enjoy singing for singing’s sake, for the fun and expressive act that it is.

Singing engages you completely in the moment and can be as relaxing as it is exhilarating.

Here’s a short video of grandson Daniel and his girlfriend Amalie singing “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” at a Savannah Ghost Pirates ice hockey game last night …

May your Christmas 2023 be a Song of Joy.